Chapter 18: The Unwelcome Guest

  Alexander Ivanov, the secretary of the Far Eastern Frontier District Committee, sat on his spacious sofa, staring absent-mindedly at the wisps of white mist rising from a cup of hot coffee on the low table. His sharp blue eyes, like those of an eagle, were sometimes scattered and sometimes gathered, clearly showing that he was thinking about a problem that made him, as the first secretary with great power and political commissar of the Far Eastern Military Region, feel difficult.

  The leaders of the 2nd and 3rd Route Armies of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, Li Zhaolun, Feng Boyun, and Zhou Weizhong, who are all Communist Party members, have arrived in his residence in Khabarovsk (Boli) two months ago. According to the intelligence he has received, after more than a month of debate within the United Army, they have reached a consensus that they will soon meet with him to seek his support, including training personnel, providing weapons, and discussing ways for the United Army to cross the border freely. These issues are easy to resolve, but the key is under what name to provide support, and the issue of leadership ownership of this United Army unit, as well as the relationship between the Northeast United Army and the SL Border District Party Committee and the Far East Military. It's a headache.

  In the face of increasingly severe threats and provocations from the Imperial Japanese Army, the Soviet Union needed the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army to pin down the Japanese army. In 1938 and 1939, the Japanese military manufactured a series of provocative incidents along the Sino-Soviet-Mongolian border, triggering the Battle of Lake Khasan and the Battles of Khalkhin Gol. In September 1939, Germany began its invasion of Poland, the Western Front was tense, the Soviet Union was intensifying its war preparations, but had not yet made adequate preparations for war. To avoid a two-front war, it needed the cooperation of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army on the Chinese battlefield to stabilize the Eastern Front.

  The ruthless international politics is a naked game of big powers, and Ivanov knew it very well. The game surrounding interests will forever penetrate the two countries of SL and RB, unless one side thoroughly conquers the other, otherwise it will be endless. RB is ambitious, has already annexed half of ZG, and its greedy demand for territory knows no bounds, making it the most powerful potential enemy of SL in the Far East. According to top-secret documents, the RB military department is debating whether to go north or south, once decided to go north, it will be a nightmare for the military and civilians in the Far East, which is the result that SL least wants to see.

  How to entangle the huge Kwantung Army in front of him, Ivanov had no bottom line. Although his side won two battles triggered by RB, Ivanov knew that the RB people did not use their full strength. The RB people said that the armored forces were not in good shape, but their air force was enough to seize the air supremacy in the Far East. His own Far Eastern old aircraft of over a thousand were not opponents of the Japanese Air Force equipped with new fighter jets. If the Soviet army lost air superiority, no matter how strong the ground armor troops were, they would only be targets for dive bombers.

  Comrade Shi Daling trusted me and gave great power to the Far East, so I must live up to this trust and make some achievements in the Far East. After careful consideration, Ivanov finally made up his mind. Tomorrow, that is, March 19th, I decided to meet with Comrade ZG.

  After informing his secretary of his decision, Ivanov fell into thought once again.

  The grey telephone on Ivanov's desk rang out with a "ting-ting-ting". Ivanov stood up, his sturdy body moving to answer it.

  Over the phone, in the outer office, the soft voice of Anna Ulyanovna, the secretary, came through: "Comrade Secretary, Colonel Anton Baprovich, commander of the 117th Border Guard Regiment, wants to speak with you."

  Ivanov thought for a moment, hesitated and said: "Let him in". He was hesitant because the commander of the army rarely looked for him. Although he also served as the political commissar of the Far Eastern Military District, his main energy was still focused on civil affairs, and all military matters were handled by Commander Nalmasi. After thinking about it, Ivanov decided that Baprovich should not be looking for him because of a military problem. What is it then? Ivanov's curiosity was piqued.

  After listening for a while, Ivanov figured out why Bapurovich was looking for him. According to Bapurovich, there was an intense shootout in the ZG territory not far from the border early this morning, and many people crossed into SL territory. Since there were too many ZG people, the border guards couldn't stop them at all. Roughly estimated, over a thousand people have already come over.

  "What's going on here?" Ivanov was getting a bit angry. "What's the situation with Manchukuo over there? Have they made any demands for these people who have escaped to come back?"

  "They're here, they demand repatriation."

  "For the greater good, don't provoke unnecessary disputes and give RB a real answer. Tell them to take these people out of the picture."

  "But they said they were the ZG Anti-Japanese Allied Army, and our Communist Party brothers. The leader said he was sent by General Yang Jingyu to find you, with a letter. If we send them back to ZG, it would be equivalent to murdering them, undermining the instructions of the Communist Alliance, and damaging the friendship between the two parties and armies. The hat is too big for me to handle." Baprovich sounded a bit unnatural on the phone.

  "Anti-Union?" Ivanov thought for a moment. If it was the Anti-Union, this matter could be negotiated. If the ones who escaped were from the Anti-Union and there were only a few of them, they could pretend not to see them. But if there were many, it would be difficult to handle. However, being unable to handle something didn't mean it couldn't be done. When dealing with RB people, one had to consider the strategy of struggle. You couldn't just be hard or soft. If you were too soft, they would see your weakness and their cruel psychology would be further provoked. Ivanov had put in a lot of effort studying these RB people.

  Ivanov decided to help these anti-Communists, "Comrade Babrovich, you see what to do, take these people away from the border, find them a place to camp, temporarily stationed, weapons confiscated, provide clothing and food, and then send that leader to me, I'll see who dares to wear a hat."

  "Yes, but how will Manchukuo respond?"

  "Comrade, do I need to teach you? You take those ZG people who were caught smuggling and send them over. If not enough, find some lighter offenders from prison or labor camps, XIAN people will also do, release them and send them back to Manzhouguo, a few hundred would be fine, who knows how many will escape?"

  Ivanov's move is very clever, it not only solves the problem but also leaves no excuse for the opposing RB person. You want people? Fine, I'll give them to you. As for the number of people and names being incorrect, that's just nitpicking. If you're still not satisfied, it can only be understood as making unreasonable demands and intentionally provoking trouble.

  On the other end of the phone, Babrovich was speechless for half a day, with only admiration left in his heart. "Respected Secretary Comrade, my respect for you is as endless as the waters of the Volga River, and as unstoppable as the overflowing waters of the Amur River."

  Wow, this flattery is quite impressive! Ivanov absolutely didn't believe that this guy with a blockhead would come up with such a wonderful metaphor. Although all these fawning words should be thrown into the historical trash can, it's refreshing to hear them occasionally.

  "Anton, who taught you this?" Ivanov's form of address to Baranovich changed, he called him by his name alone, omitting the patronymic, a sign of familiarity.

  On the phone, Bapu Lovich was embarrassed to laugh, "Comrade Secretary, it's really hard to deceive you. These words were said by that leader of the ZG guerrilla squad. His eloquence is really good, and our people here have been praised all over again, without repeating."

  "What's his name?"

  "He said his name was Qian An, surname Ma." Baburov stiffly pronounced the Chinese name. "He speaks Russian, although not very fluently, but he expresses himself accurately and we all understand him."

  "Oh, Anma, it's interesting, you bring him over by car right away, I want to see him tomorrow morning."

  What's going on with Ma Qian'an? Didn't he bring Liu Qingyuan and Li Fengshan, just the two of them? How did a large group of people end up following behind him? Speaking of which, it's all because of that Liu Qingyuan guy, an old radical.

  On the way, Li Fengshan already knew what their mission was this time and was overjoyed. He had long wanted to go to the old Mao's place to take a look. It was said that the women there were blonde-haired and blue-eyed, with fiery figures. This time he had the opportunity to take a look, and he would follow even if it killed him. As for what Ma Qianan said, Li Fengshan snorted in disdain - that most of the Mao's women were as thick-waisted as buckets, with violent tempers.

  A few people led by Liu Qingyuan, braved the wind and rain for several days, and finally lay in ambush a few miles away from the border line in the evening, preparing to sneak across after dark.

  Unfortunately, just as they had set up their ambush, a convoy of trucks carrying laborers was forced to camp there for the night due to slippery roads and late hours. The devils drove the laborers off the trucks, tied them up in strings, leaving only a dozen or so people to guard, while most hid in tents to warm themselves by the fire. Under supervision, the laborers lit several bonfires, sat around them in large circles, and obediently squatted there waiting for dawn.

  Liu Qingyuan saw that the devils were completely unguarded and suggested a surprise attack. Ma Qianan naturally disagreed, he had more important tasks to attend to.

  At dawn, the Japanese sentry was attracted by the noise made by Liu Qingyuan and discovered them. Ma Qianan had to shoot and kill the approaching sentinel, which triggered a large-scale pursuit by the Japanese devils. Ma Qianan thought that this must be the deliberate noise made by Liu Qingyuan, letting the old man see that not being beaten by the Japanese devils was more unbearable than being killed.

  When the twentieth devil fell under their accurate firepower, the originally docile laborers suddenly rioted, breaking free from their restraints and swarming forward, tearing apart the devils guarding them, snatching guns and ammunition before joining the battle group to disperse the remaining devils.

  Then everyone followed Ma Qian and his group into the SL territory, in the eyes of these laborers, all this seemed like a dream, they were free.

  Ma Qianan was elected by the workers as the person in charge of negotiations with the Soviet side because he could speak Russian and was also the initiator of this battle.